Closer
by Breezychick15
Summary: Despite their hate for one another, Max decides to help Nathan when she learns the truth of what he's been up to and why. Though he doesn't want her help at first, Nathan realizes that she might just be exactly what he needs...In more ways than one. Originally posted on A03.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi, everyone! I originally posted this story on A03, but I decided to post it here for those who don't go on A03. I hope you enjoy this story**

 **Warnings: Explicit language, sexual content, drug abuse, drug dealing, character death, mental health issues.**

 **Pairings: Max/Nathan, minor Max/Chloe, minor Nathan/Victoria, past Rachel/Chloe.**

Max knew that Nathan hated her. To him, she was nothing but a nosy little bitch that needed to be taken care of. But she didn't know that he would take it this far, though she probably shouldn't have been surprised.

As soon as she had entered her room after coming back from gathering the assignments she would need to complete while she was suspended, the door slammed shut and suddenly she was being pressed up against it by Nathan Prescott.

"You little bitch," he growled. "Who the fuck do you think you are?!" His eyes were wild and his whole body was shaking with anger. Max had never really been afraid of Nathan, but now a part of her was.

"Let go of me, Nathan," she said as calmly as she could, though her voice shook a little and she could tell that he noticed it too, if his smirk was anything to go by. He wanted her to be afraid.

"Not until we talk."

"Talk about what?"

"About how you need to stay the fuck out of my business!" he snarled.

She could feel the rage radiating off of him. "I'll scream," she threatened.

Nathan's eyes flashed. "I wouldn't even try if I were you. You know who my family is. They practically own this fucking school and everyone here. Trust me, no one is gonna come running to help you."

The fucked up part of it was that he was right. But that didn't mean she was going to let him win.

"Kate tried to kill herself because of you," she snapped. "Does that matter to you at all?"

His jaw tightened and a dark look passed over his face. "I had nothing to do with that."

"You drugged her and then did god-knows-what! And then that video came out! She was bullied and humiliated and it's all because of you-!"

Nathan's fist slammed into the door beside her head, causing her to jump and stop talking. He still looked angry, though there was no longer rage in his eyes. Instead there was…guilt? And pain? Was she starting to see things now, too?"

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about," he growled in a low voice. "Why don't you do yourself a favor and stay out of things you don't understand."

Max shook her head. "I can't. Not after Kate."

"You've already gotten me suspended! What the fuck more do you want?"

"I want the truth! And I want Kate to have justice! She deserves that much, don't you think?" Why are you telling him this, Max? Do you honestly expect him to come clean? He'd be sent to jail and his family's perfect reputation would be destroyed.

"Fuck. Fine." He ran a shaky hand through his hair.

Max blinked. "What?"

"Holy shit, are you deaf? Jesus Christ. I said fine! I'll give you your fucking answers. Some of them, at least."

"And why would you do that?" She asked suspiciously.

"Because," he said in a low voice, "it's obvious that you're not gonna back the fuck off, and there are some things that I would rather tell you myself than have you find out on your own and start taking action against me without knowing the whole story."

"Do you really think that's going to change anything?" She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

He chuckled without any humor. "Knowing you, probably not."

Max didn't know whether that was meant as some kind of compliment or not. "So…are we gonna talk about this now?"

"Not now, idiot," he snapped. "I have shit to do. Come to my dorm room tomorrow night after curfew. We'll talk then."

"Your dorm room? I would rather be somewhere more public." There was no way in hell she would feel comfortable being alone with Nathan in his dorm room, and that was only because she knew what he was capable of.

"Do you really think I'm gonna discuss this shit where there are a lot of people around?" He scoffed and shook his head at her, as if he couldn't believe how stupid she actually was.

"Do you really think I want to be alone with you in your room at night?" She shot back.

He glared at her for a moment, and then he suddenly smirked. "Why not? You afraid I'll try something?" He stepped closer to her until his body was pressed up against hers. The smell of his cologne filled her nostrils, and it sent a shiver down her spine.

"N-no," she stuttered, mind fogging over, "I just-I don't trust you." She didn't even know what she was saying. His face was close to hers now, and combining that with his cologne and his body pressed against hers…It was doing something to her, and she wasn't sure what, but she knew it wasn't good. What was even worse was that he knew exactly what kind of effect he was having on her right now.

"Have you ever been alone with a guy before, Maxine?" He murmured, lips ghosting over her ear.

A jolt of excitement rushed through her body, and she immediately hated herself for it. "D-don't call me that," she snapped. "And get away from me."

Nathan chuckled. "I can tell by the way your body is reacting that you want me to stay exactly where I am." And then the bastard nipped at her earlobe.

"Nathan," she moaned, closing her eyes. "Stop it." What the hell was he doing to her?

"Don't worry," he laughed. "As if I would ever try to fuck you. You're the last girl I'd wanna sleep with." He pulled away from her and the spell was suddenly broken.

Max's eyes flew open, realizing what had just taken place. Her cheeks began to redden and a sick feeling washed over her. She had just let Nathan Prescott…do something to her. And she wasn't even sure what it was. All she knew was that there was an indescribable feeling in the pit of her stomach and a moment ago she hadn't really wanted him to stop.

This was the guy who shot her best friend, drugged Kate, beat up Warren, and probably did many other horrible things that she didn't know about. What the fuck was wrong with her?

"Get out," she hissed, moving aside to let him out.

His face turned into a sneer. "Gladly." He threw opened the door, but before he could leave, he stopped and glanced at her over his shoulder. "Don't forget about tomorrow night." And then he was gone.

Max breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door before nearly collapsing against it. So many thoughts were rushing through her mind.

 _Okay, Max,_ she told herself, _don't freak out. Don't think about what just happened. You're going to get information out of him. That's all that matters._ She closed her eyes and shuddered. _And for the love of god, do not let him do that to you again!_

It didn't occur to her until the next morning that she could have used her rewind power to stop it all from happening. But by then it was too late.


	2. Chapter 2

He fucked up.

He well and truly fucked up.

What the fuck was he thinking? He was going to tell Max Caulfield part of the truth? Not only was he specifically warned not to tell anyone, but he could also go to jail for this shit. Though, if it came down to it, he could always go with the insanity defense. He'd be locked away in some nut house, but at least he wouldn't be forced to take it up the ass in jail.

With a groan, Nathan laid back on his bed and threw an arm over his eyes. He could always change his mind and not tell her anything. Hell, he could even make up a story that would satisfy her enough to get her off his back.

Oh, who the hell was he kidding? This was Max fucking Caulfield. No matter what he told her, she wouldn't back off. Not when she knew he had something to do with Kate. Not when she saw him pointing a gun at that punk-ass bitch Chloe. Not with Rachel Amber missing.

Max could always be the next victim…

It was a tempting thought. Really fucking tempting. But deep down he knew he couldn't do it. He already felt guilty enough about Kate and Rachel. And yeah, it probably wouldn't be long before he was assigned another girl, but he wasn't going to bring anyone to him out of his own free will. Max Caulfield may be nosy and annoying, but she didn't deserve that.

A knock on his door startled him out of his thoughts. He sighed and got up to answer it, hoping Max hadn't decided to come early.

"Victoria," he greeted, relieved to see his best friend standing there and not Max, "what's up?"

Victoria winked and moved past him into the room, making herself comfortable on his bed. "I thought I'd come visit you, seeing as how I didn't see you in school today."

"I've been suspended, remember?" He joined her on the bed. "All thanks to that stupid bitch Max Caulfield."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "I can't believe she accused you of having a gun and drugging Kate. She's totally out of her mind."

 _Except she was telling the truth._ "Yeah, she is. I better not see her face again, or I swear I'll-"

"Now, Nathan," Victoria crooned, "don't get yourself too worked up." She smiled sweetly at him and ran a finger up his arm. "If you're so stressed out, maybe I can help."

He grinned back at her. It was funny, because everyone assumed that they were more like brother and sister, when in truth they would fuck the stress and pain out of one another when needed.

And right now he really fucking needed it.

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"Earth to Max! Are you there?"

Max blinked and turned around in her seat at Chloe's desk to look at her friend. "Uh, yeah. Sorry. I must have zoned out for a second."

"Dude, you've been like this ever since you got here," Chloe answered, slightly annoyed. "What's up?"

Max wanted nothing more than to tell her best friend about what had happened last night with Nathan, but she knew that Chloe wouldn't react well. Still, there was one question she needed to ask…

"Chloe, have you ever…felt something in the pit of your stomach? Like when a guy does something to you?"

The question took the blue-haired girl by surprise, and it was a moment before she answered. "You mean, like, arousal?"

Arousal. So that's what it was.

"Yeah, uh…never mind." Max quickly turned back around and began to fiddle with her camera, cheeks flamed. She hoped that Chloe wouldn't ask any questions, but of course she wasn't that lucky.

"Why do you want to know? Is there someone who aroused you, Max?" Chloe playfully wiggled her eyebrows.

"Of course not! Don't be ridiculous. It was just a question, that's all."

"It was definitely not just a question. Come on, Max. Spill."

 _I want to, Chloe, but I know you would either go after Nathan or get really pissed at me for feeling the way I did last night. And I really, really don't want you to be angry with me. Not when we've become so close again._

"It was Warren," Max blurted out before she could stop herself. She felt ill at the thought of her other best friend making her feel anything sexual, but his name was the first that popped into her mind.

Chloe laughed. "Warren made you aroused? Seriously?"

Max shrugged. "Not on purpose. He was just really close to me, and uh…I guess my hormones went into overdrive or something."

"I'm just kidding with you, dude. Trust me, I get it. Rachel used to make me feel the same way."

Now it was Max's turn to be surprised. "Wait, really? You and Rachel…?"

A sad look passed over Chloe's face for a second, but it was gone just as fast. "Yeah. I mean, we kissed sometimes and I loved her, but we were never, you know, official or anything. I think it was because a part of her belonged to Frank, too." She sighed. "Max, pass me the ashtray."

Max grabbed it and handed it over to Chloe, who immediately laid down on her bed and lit the joint that was in it. It was silent for a few minutes as Chloe smoked and Max got lost in her thoughts again.

"Chloe," she said finally, "Rachel loved you. I know I've never met her, but from what you've told me and what I've read…you were just as important to her."

"I don't want to talk about her anymore." Chloe held the joint out to Max. "Here. You look like you need this just as much as I do."

And Max really did, but she was hesitant. What if she needed to use her rewind power but couldn't because she was high? What if she accidentally let it slip about Nathan?

"Come on, Max. It won't kill you to loosen up a bit."

"…Yeah. I guess you're right." Max took the joint from her and brought it to her lips and inhaled. A second later she began to cough violently. "That's horrible!" She gasped.

Chloe laughed. "You get used to it after a while. Try again."

Max shook her head. "Actually, I think I'm good." She tried to give the joint back to Chloe, but the girl wouldn't take it.

"We'll try something else then. Have you ever heard of shotgun?" Max shook her head. "Basically I'll take a hit off the joint and then I'll press my mouth against yours. Then you'll suck the smoke in."

"We have to press our mouths together?" Max asked, eyes widening. "Chloe, I don't think…I mean-"

"Relax, Max. It's fine. I used to do this with Rachel all the time."

But I'm not Rachel, Chloe. "Okay. Sure."

Chloe smiled and took back the joint. Max watched in slight amazement as the other girl inhaled as deeply as she could without coughing once.

"When did you even start smoking?" She asked. When she realized that the girl couldn't answer, she blushed and said, "Right. Sorry."

Chloe just rolled her eyes and made a come here gesture with her index finger. Max immediately joined her on the bed, heart hammering when her best friend suddenly pressed her mouth against hers. The smoke filled her lungs and this time it wasn't nearly as bad. She didn't know if it was because Chloe was blowing smoke into her mouth instead of her actually puffing on the joint, or because she was too distracted by the fact that she was, in a way, kissing Chloe.

 _At least I'm not getting that feeling from last night. I don't know what if I would ever be able to look Chloe in the eyes knowing that she made me aroused._

Those were the last clear thoughts Max had. Ten minutes later her mind started to cloud over and it almost felt like the room was slowly spinning.

"Chloe," she said slowly, "I think it worked."

Chloe began to laugh. "I think it did too, Max. You look completely stoned right now."

"I feel stoned." Max paused. "Am I even speaking out loud right now?"

"You're speaking out loud, dude. Don't worry." Chloe got up. "I'm gonna grab us some water. Don't do anything funny while I'm gone."

"Wait," Max said, trying to stand up but failing miserably, "I'll go with you."

"Max, there's no way you're gonna be able to make it down the stairs. You can't even stand up as it is."

"I'll…teleport?" Max began to giggle. "I'll teleport! Oh, my god, Chloe, do you think I can teleport? Wait, what am I even saying? Am I even making sense? Wait, am I still speaking out loud?"

"…Remind me to never get you stoned again."

Max just began to laugh even harder.

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Nathan didn't bother to open his eyes when he heard Victoria climb out of bed. "You leaving?"

"The girls and I are having a movie night in my room. Plus, I have to talk to Jefferson about picking my photo for the Everyday Heroes Photo Contest," Victoria answered with a dramatic sigh. Such a busy life she led.

Nathan scoffed. "You honestly think Mark Jefferson is just gonna let you win the contest? Have you met the guy? He's all about playing fair."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "I know that, but I'm hoping he'll change his mind if I…threaten him a little."

"Oh, yeah? What kind of threat?" Now his eyes were wide open.

She smirked. "If he doesn't pick my photo, I'll tell everyone that he offered to pick my photo for favors."

If it was any other teacher, he wouldn't give two shits about it. Hell, he'd even help her if she needed it. But this was Mark fucking Jefferson. The guy was cunning and dangerous. If Victoria wasn't already on the list, she sure as fuck would be if she threatened him. Nathan cared about her too much to let that happen.

But he knew he couldn't stop it.

"You sure that's a good idea?" He asked casually. "What if he doesn't take your threat seriously?"

Victoria put her shoes on and patted down her hair. "Then he's an idiot."

 _Victoria, you have no idea who you'd be going up against._ "Whatever. Have fun."

"Always." She blew him a kiss and grabbed her purse before leaving his room.

Nathan groaned and grabbed his cell phone to check the time. Max would be knocking on his door in a half hour if she had the balls to show up. There was no time to get high. He would need to be sober if he was going to spill some of his dirty little secrets.

"Better not keep me waiting, bitch," he muttered. There were a bottle of pills just calling for him.

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Hours later, when they both came down from their high, they laid on Chloe's bed together, both munching on chips with dip.

"I had an awesome time today," Chloe said with a small laugh, "even though you acted like a complete idiot."

Max yawned and rubbed her eyes. "It was my first time getting high. Give me a break."

"Yeah, well, if that's how you're gonna act every time, then no more weed for you." Chloe said it in a way that told Max she wasn't being serious. Maybe the girl wouldn't admit it, but she was definitely glad to see a more fun side of Max.

"What was it like when you and Rachel smoked together?"

Chloe was quiet for a moment. "It was…peaceful, I guess. We would forget all about our problems for a little while and just talk about shit that didn't even make sense and laugh together. The best moments were when we would just forget about the world. The only thing that mattered was that we were together." She closed her eyes and swallowed. "We have to get her back, Max."

"We will," Max assured her. "And we'll help Kate."

"And take down Nathan."

Nathan.

"Shit! What time is it?" Max quickly sat up and began to frantically search for her phone.

Chloe took it out of her pocket and gave it to Max. "I confiscated it when you wanted to call the principle and bitch him out for suspending you."

"Thanks for that."

"What are best friends for, right? We stop each other from making asses out of ourselves. And what's the rush? You're already late for curfew. Just stay here tonight."

"I can't, Chloe. I-I promised I would help Warren with his science project."

"A project, huh?" Chloe winked. "Right. Well, don't let me get in the way."

Max groaned. "He's just my friend."

"Try telling your hormones that."

"I'll text you later." Max rushed out the door and ran down the stairs before Chloe could reply. She had to get to Nathan's dorm now. Otherwise he might get angry and decide not to tell her anything.

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By the time she got off the bus and ran all the way to the boys dorm, she was sweating and nearly out of breath. Luckily no one was around when she knocked on Nathan's door. The last thing she needed was for someone to see her going into his room. Especially Warren.

On the fifth knock there was finally an answer. "Jesus Christ, hold on!" Nathan opened the door. "What the fuck-? Oh. It's you."

"I'm here," Max said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"And you're late."

"Technically you didn't give me a specific time. You just said to be here after curfew."

She was right, but it wasn't like he was going to say that. "Just get in here." He gestured for her to come into the room.

Max hesitated for a second, but then went into his room. Her eyes widened and she vaguely heard the door close behind her. Nathan's room was…kind of awesome.

"I like your room," she said lamely.

He snorted. "Thanks."

"No, really. It's cool." _Can you sound any more like a total dork, Max?_

"It's amazing what money can buy you, isn't it?" He sat down on his bed. "Take a seat."

It took Max a second to decide if she should sit on the couch or on his bed. The couch had adult magazines strewn across it, but did she really want to sit next to Nathan?

As if sensing her dilemma, Nathan smirked at her.

 _The couch it is, then._

"What, are you too afraid to sit next to me?" He teased her as she moved aside all of the junk on the couch. "Come on. I won't bite too hard unless you ask me to."

She sat down and glared at him. "Shut it, Nathan, and tell me what you know."

"Getting right down to business, I see."

"I didn't come here for anything else."

"No?" He raised an eyebrow and tiled his head to the side. "You didn't come here for a repeat of last night?"

The memory caused her to blush a deep shade of red. "That's never going to happen again," she snapped.

"Sure it's not."

"If you're not gonna tell me what I want to know, then I'm leaving. I'll figure it all out on my own." She went to stand up, but Nathan waved her back down.

"All right, all right." He rolled his eyes. "Do you have to be so serious all the time?"

"This is a serious matter, Nathan."

"Whatever. Go ahead and ask your questions."

She already knew her first question. She'd been waiting to ask it since she woke up this morning. "What did you do to Kate?"

Nathan sighed, knowing very well that she was going to ask, but still not happy about it. "I drugged her and brought her to _him."_

"Who's him?" Max asked, suddenly filled with dread.

"I can't tell you that."

"You said you would answer my questions."

"Actually, I said I'd answer _some_ of them." He leaned back against the small bed frame, bending one leg at the knee and leaving the other outstretched. For extremely unknown reasons, Max suddenly thought that he looked kind of hot.

"Are you gonna keep staring at me, or are you gonna ask your next question?" He asked her with a wry smile, though there was some annoyance in his voice. "I don't have all fucking night, you know."

"I wasn't staring at you," she muttered, embarrassed.

"We can pretend you weren't if it'll hurry this all the fuck up."

Max huffed. "Why did he want Kate? And why were you doing it for him?"

"Look, all I can tell you is that I have to do whatever he tells me to or _I'll_ be the one who's in trouble, along with my family. Kate was just one of many girls I've taken to him." He looked down and began to fiddle with his fingers, not wanting to meet her eyes.

"How did you even get into this whole thing in the first place?"

"He blackmailed me. He has shit on my family that would destroy us if it got out to the public." Nathan shrugged like the information didn't matter. "I didn't really have a choice."

"Really?" Max scoffed. "You're always bragging about how your family owns this town and everyone in it. Why didn't you just tell your family and get to him first?"

"I didn't want to take the fucking chance," he admitted in a harsh tone, "so now I have to do exactly what he says. And usually that involves me drugging girls and bringing them to his lair or whatever the fuck you want to call it. Then I bring them back to their dorms." His hands began to shake. "I don't know why he chose me of all people. Maybe because I was the easiest to manipulate and blackmail. Maybe because I'm the one who has the most to lose. What I do know is that I fucking hate it. I hate that he has this fucking control over me. I hate that I have to do this fucking shit for him. And I hate that I'm the one who has to protect my family's fucking reputation. If I was smart I would take a bus out of this shithole and get as far away from here as possible."

Max was a little more than taken aback by the sudden rant, but she knew that it wasn't meant for her. For a moment he probably forgot that she was even there.

"So why don't you?" She asked softly.

Nathan's eyes snapped to hers. "Because I don't want to know what he'd do to my family if I left."

Max had never seen Nathan so vulnerable and lost, but now that she had, she couldn't help but feel bad for him. Yeah, he was far from innocent. He was drugging girls and bringing them to some asshole who did something to them. But at the same time this wasn't what he wanted at all. He was scared.

"What does he do with them?" She was almost afraid of the answer.

"He takes pictures of them."

"Why?"

"Because he's a sick fuck who gets off on it!" Nathan's voice was sharp and sudden. "And before you ask, I don't know if he does anything else to them. If he has in the past, I wasn't in the room at the time." He leaned back against the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. "Does that answer some of your questions?"

There were still plenty more racing around in her head, but she knew Nathan wasn't going to answer them now. "Just tell me three more things."

"Holy shit— _what_?"

"Did you take Rachel Amber?"

"Next question."

Max jumped up. "Where is she, Nathan?"

"I said next question, _Maxine_ ," he sneered.

"Just tell me! Or at least tell me if she's alive or dead!"

Nathan regarded her for a moment, eyes like steel. "If I tell you," he said slowly, "you can't tell anyone. Do you hear me? Not a goddamn soul."

Max took a deep breath. "I won't tell anyone," she promised. And she meant it for the most part. She wouldn't tell anyone-not yet, at least-but could she really keep it from Chloe? Would it be better to hide it from her for now?

"She's dead," Nathan said, so softly that she wasn't sure if she even heard him right.

"Dead?"

"Yes, dead. As in, she's in the fucking ground somewhere rotting away."

She felt dizzy. "He killed her?"

"She woke up when she wasn't supposed to." Nathan looked away from her. "She saw him and she would have told the cops. He obviously wasn't gonna let that happen."

"Nathan," Max whispered, tears welling up in her eyes, "you have to go to the police. You have to come clean."

"No!" He hissed, getting off his bed. "Do you realize what'll happen to me if I come clean? Do you know what'll happen to my family?"

"Nathan, Rachel is dead! He killed her! And he's having you drug girls so he can take disgusting pictures of them! Don't you want this to stop?"

"Of course I want it to fucking stop! But what the fuck am I supposed to do?" He pressed a hand over his eyes and was silent for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was so shaky that Max thought he was actually going to cry. "I know this has to end. I just need to find a way to end it without getting the pigs involved."

Max made up her mind in a second. "Let me help you."

Nathan removed his hand from his eyes and gave her a confused look. "What?"

"I can help you," she insisted. "We can work together to find a way to take down this asshole."

"Are you-are you fucking serious?" He laughed. "Do you honestly think I'm gonna let you help me with this shit? I've already given away too much information."

"But-"

"Besides," he continued as if she hadn't been about to protest, "you don't even know who he is. How the fuck could you help me?"

"You can tell me who he is."

"Not happening."

Max let out a frustrated sigh. "You know I can help you. Why won't you just accept it?"

He walked over to the door and opened it. "Because 1) I don't like you. 2) I don't want your help and I don't need it." He nodded towards the hall. "Now get out. I need to get high."

Max stood there defiantly and Nathan gave her a warning look. "I'll drag your ass out of here if I have to," he threatened.

And because she was positive that he would actually do it and it wasn't some empty threat, she shot him a glare and began to march out of the room.

He grabbed her arm and yanked her close to him before she could leave.

"What the hell are you-?" She was about to snap, but his face was close to hers that she couldn't find the words.

"You can't help me," he said, voice suddenly husky, "but if you ever need my help with anything…" One hand trailed down to her hip and he gave the waistband on her jeans a tug. "You know where to find me."

Max felt the all-too familiar feeling again and she looked up at Nathan with wide eyes. She absolutely hated to admit it, but it was so tempting to just slam the door close and let him have his way with her (stupid fucking hormones!) But instead she managed to shove him away from her. Besides, he made it clear that he wasn't interested in doing that with her, didn't he? And she definitely didn't want to do anything with him. Her hormones were just causing her to not think straight.

"Fuck you, Nathan," she spat. She turned away from him and stormed out of the room.

The last thing she heard as she stormed down the hall was the sound of his laughter _. Asshole._


	3. Chapter 3

"Max, wait up!"

Max turned around and froze as Warren came up to her. "Oh, hey," she greeted as casually as she could.

Warren frowned. "Why were you in Nathan Prescott's room?"

 _Shit. Busted._

She looked down at the ground. "I…I needed to talk to him about something."

"Is everything okay? I thought I heard you two yelling."

"It wasn't exactly a pleasant conversation-you know how Nathan Prescott is-but everything is fine," she lied.

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Cool. So, I guess you're going back to your dorm now?"

"Yeah. I'm exhausted. It's been a long fucking day."

"I bet." Warren shyly rubbed the back of his neck. "Max, if you ever want to talk about what's been going on with you lately, you know I'm always here to listen."

The concern in his voice made her stomach turn. "I know, Warren. Thanks. You're an awesome friend."

"So are you, Max. Well, I'll let you go." He didn't seem to want to stop talking to her, but he could tell that she wasn't in the mood for a long conversation.

"I'll text you tomorrow, Warren. Goodnight."

"Night, Max."

Max gave him a small smile before she turned around and began to walk towards her dorm. She couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. How many more secrets could she keep from her friends before she broke?

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 _She was screaming._

 _She wouldn't stop screaming._

 _It was almost amazing how she could go from being angry to pleading for her life in a matter of seconds._

 _ **Shut the fuck up, Rachel**_! _Nathan thought desperately, trying to get himself to become alert again. Jefferson had forced him to medicate and then "pose" with Rachel. The drugs were starting to wear off, but everything was still a bit hazy._

" _No!" She cried, "No, please don't-"_

 _BLAM._

 _All Nathan could see was red as Rachel fell over, blood pouring out of her head and creating a large puddle around her._

 _It became deadly silent._

" _R-Rachel?!" Nathan choked out. "Rachel—what the fuck?! Rachel!"_

 _Jefferson lowered his gun and glanced at the boy. "Calm down, Nathan."_

 _Nathan looked up at him in horror. "Calm down? You just fucking killed her!"_

" _She would have told the police about us. We would both go to jail and your family's lives would be destroyed. Would you have wanted that?"_

" _Of course that's not what I fucking wanted! But I didn't want her to die-!"_

" _Neither did I," Jefferson said, though he sounded far from remorseful. "Sometimes we have to do things we don't like." A small smile tugged at his lips. "I think you know that better than anyone."_

 _Nathan gritted his teeth and didn't reply._

" _You're gonna help me bury her body," the older man went on. "We can bury her right here in the junkyard."_

 _Nathan gaped at him. "You can't be fucking serious-!"_

 _The back of Jefferson's hand connected with Nathan's cheek. The boy yelped in surprise and pain._

" _I'm giving you a chance to impress me," the teacher hissed. "Don't fuck it up."_

 _Nathan should have killed him. He should have killed him right then and there. All he had to do was catch Jefferson off guard and grab the gun from his hands. He could end this right now._

" _Are you listening to me, Prescott?"_

 _But Nathan couldn't do it. He wanted to. His fingers were twitching, wanting nothing more than to jump up and grab that fucking gun…But he just couldn't do it. He didn't know if it was because he was afraid of fucking up his chance and ending up with a bullet in his skull like Rachel, or because he knew that if he killed Jefferson he would either go to jail or be forced to flee Arcadia Bay. No matter what choice he made, he was fucked. And he was a goddamn coward._

 _Somehow he managed to stand up. "What do you want me to do?" He asked quietly._

" _There's a shovel in the trunk of my car. Grab it and start digging. But don't dig too deep. If somethings happens, we might need to dig her back up and move her body."_

 _A while later, when the hole was dug and Nathan felt any sanity he had left slipping further and further away, he dropped the shovel and stumbled over to Rachel. "I'm sorry, Rachel," he whispered. "I'm so fucking sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen."_

" _Get on with it, Nathan," Jefferson ordered._

 _Nathan refrained from telling the man to fuck off, and instead bent down to pick the girl up. He could practically smell the blood that covered the back of her head and he wanted to throw up. Every step of the way was torture. His legs protested, threatening to give out any given moment. By some fucked up miracle he was able to make it. "I'm sorry," he whispered again as he bent down and set Rachel in the hole. He stood there for a moment and stared at her, trying to fight off the tears that were threatening to spill over. The last thing he wanted was for the fucker watching him to see him cry._

" _There's no time for this, Nathan," Jefferson sighed. "Bury her."_

 _Nathan quickly wiped at his eyes and bent down to grab the shovel._

 _Rachel's hand reached up and grabbed his arm. "How could you do this, Nathan?!" Rachel screeched. "How could you let him do this to me?! I was supposed to be your friend!"_

 _Nathan's eyes were wide with fear. "Rachel, I'm-!"_

" _No! You'll get what's coming to you, Prescott! This isn't over! Do you hear me? It's not over!"_

Nathan's eyes flew open and he gasped.

Sunlight streamed into his room and it took him a few seconds to realize where he was. When he did, he let out a loud groan and ran a hand down his face. "You're fine, Nathan," he told himself, trying to calm down his racing heart. "You're in your shitty dorm room. You're not at the junkyard. It was just a fucking nightmare."

And what a fucking nightmare it was. He really needed to stop getting so high before going to bed.

Speaking of getting high…He forced himself out of bed and trudged over to the couch, moving it out so he could grab the cell phone that he taped to it. He nearly started twitching in anticipation as he turned it on, unlocked it, and quickly scrolled through his contacts to find Frank's number.

 _ **Hey. I need some more peruvian flake. meet me the beach in 1 hour?**_

Ten minutes later he got a response.

 **Too fucking early man. I want double what u normally pay me for it**

 _ **Yea fine just be there**_

Nathan threw the phone on his bed and grabbed his clothes. He really wanted to get fucking high right now, but the last time he got high right before meeting Frank he ended up freaking out on the guy. He couldn't do that anymore if he wanted his shit.

And without the drugs, what the fuck did he have left?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max was bored. And honestly, seeing as how this week has been insane so far, boring was actually kind of nice.

Chloe was still sleeping so she couldn't meet up with her, and Warren was in class so she couldn't hang out with him either. The only thing she could think of doing was going to see Nathan Prescott and try to get him to let her help him, but she didn't exactly want to deal with him so early in the morning. Besides, if he was asleep and she woke him up, he'd most likely murder her.

The word murder made her think of their conversation last night. She had tossed and turned all night in her bed while she thought about Rachel Amber. Max wanted to tell Chloe so badly that Rachel was dead, but she knew that now wasn't a good time. God only knows what Chloe would do if she found out. And if Max wanted to help Nathan, she had to keep it a secret—for now.

She sighed. If she stayed in her room all day, she'd probably go crazy. Maybe a small walk in town and then breakfast at the Two Whales diner would help take her mind off of things for a little while. She could always visit Kate, too.

Making up her mind, Max got off her bed and grabbed her camera and bag. She quickly left her room and made her way out of the girls dorm, already feeling a tiny bit better when she was out in the fresh air.

That was, of course, until she bumped into Nathan when she was on her way to the bus stop in front of the school. The guy seemed to have a way of polluting the air.

"Oh, great," he said sarcastically, "just the ugly face I wanted to see first thing in the morning."

"Nice, Nathan," she said flatly before continuing to walk.

Nathan followed her. "Hey, Caulfield," he snapped, "you didn't open your mouth to anyone about what I told you last night, right?"

"No, I didn't tell anyone." She rolled her eyes and walked down the stairs.

"Good, because you should know what'll happen to you if you do." There was an edge to his tone that she didn't like.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Call it whatever you want, but even a dumbass like you should take it seriously."

"Go take your meds, Nathan." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and from the look on his face she could tell it was the wrong thing to say.

"What the fuck did you just say to me, bitch?" He growled, grabbing her arm and gripping it tightly enough to the point of pain.

"Nathan, you're hurting me. Let go!" Max cried, trying to break her arm free but unable to do so.

"Not until you tell me what the fuck you said." His voice was calmer, but also shaking with a vicious anger that was threatening to appear at any moment.

This was the Nathan who Max hated. The one who seemed to be his usual douche bag self one minute and the next a complete psycho who couldn't control himself or his rage. It was like he had just become a completely different person with the flip of a switch. A monster.

"Do we have a problem here?"

They both turned their heads and saw the bus driver giving them a look. They hadn't even heard the bus pull up.

"Not at all," Nathan answered, flipping the switch yet again. He let go of Max's arm and stepped back.

"I was talking to the young lady." The bus driver looked at Max.

Nathan's eyes narrowed. "And I'm telling you, asshole, that everything is fine-"

"I'm fine," Max cut in before Nathan could say anything more.

The man didn't seem to believe her, but he didn't say anything else.

She looked back at Nathan. There was still anger in his eyes, but he seemed to have calmed down a little.

"Well? Are you gonna get on the bus?" He smirked at the driver and added with a sneer, "We don't wanna keep the nice bus driver waiting."

Max turned away from him and made her way onto the bus, not realizing that he was right behind her until he plopped down next to her in a seat.

"What are you doing?" She was puzzled.

"What does it look like, genius?" He rolled his eyes.

"You have your own car. Why are you taking the bus? Better yet, why are you sitting next to me?"

Nathan looked around to make sure there weren't too many people around them. Luckily the bus was practically empty today.

"We gotta talk," he said, lowering his voice.

"If it's to warn me some more about not telling anyone everything you told me last night, there's no need. I get it. I won't open my mouth." She turned her head to look out the window, wishing he would move to a different seat and leave her alone.

"You never asked your other two questions last night," he reminded her.

Max looked over at him in surprise. "Are you actually going to answer them?"

"If I feel like it." She honestly couldn't understand why Nathan would take the bus with her just to see what her other two questions were. It was obvious he hated answering them. Was he just curious to see what else she had to ask, or…or was there something else he wanted to talk to her about and was just putting the conversation off for now?

"Well?" He was growing irritated again. "You gonna ask them or not? Jesus."

"You are way too impatient," Max muttered.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "I'm a lot of things, sweetheart. Get used to it."

Something told her she was gonna have to.

"Okay," she started, "tell me why you drugged Chloe and then tried to take pictures of her yourself. You said that He's the one who takes the pictures, right? And you brought her to your room."

A dark look passed over his face. "How's that bitch doing, by the way? Ever get her fucking money?"

"Nathan."

"Maxine."

Having had just about enough of his bullshit, Max grabbed her bag and stood up.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" He demanded.

"I'm moving to another seat." She crossed her arms and stared icily at him, waiting for him to let her by.

"Sit your ass down," he growled.

"Only if you swear that you won't make any more comments about Chloe."

Nathan scowled. "Yeah, fine. Whatthefuckever. Just sit down."

Max sighed and sat back down.

"He's always looking for me to impress him," Nathan began to explain as soon as she was comfortable. "I knew what your stupid bitch of a friend-" He caught the look Max was giving him and rolled his eyes. "I knew what your dimwitted friend was up to—trying to get money off of me. It really pissed me off, so I decided that I would use her as a way to impress that prick. Obviously that fucking failed," he snorted.

"So…you don't like doing what he's making you do, yet you did it to Chloe out of your own free will." Max felt a spark of anger.

An amused look crossed his face, though when he spoke his voice was filled with bitterness. "Yeah, looks like it."

The bus came to a stop and Nathan's fingers began to twitch again at the thought of being able to get his drugs in less than ten minutes. He gave Max a short wave and got up to exit the bus, forgetting that she had one last question.

Max wasn't going to let him get away that easily. "Where do you take the girls?"

He tensed. "As if I could tell you that. The last thing I fucking need is for you to follow me there and get me in trouble," he snapped.

"Are you two getting off?" The bus driver asked from up front.

"In a minute," Nathan answered, barely paying attention to the man. He thought for a moment and then sighed, looking down at Max. "The only thing I'm allowed to say is that it's called The Dark Room. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take care of some business."

He began to exit the bus and Max quickly grabbed her bag and followed him.

"Do you mean you have more victims to drug?" She practically whispered once they were off the bus. There were plenty of people around and she didn't want anyone to overhear. Nathan spun around and glared at her.

"No, that's not what I meant. Mind your business and fuck off." An elderly woman walking by overheard the last part and gasped at his foul language, and Nathan growled, "Keep walking, grandma."

"Stop it," Max hissed. "Do you have to be so nasty to everyone?"

"It's all part of my charm," he replied, tone dripping with sarcasm. "Now seriously, fuck off."

Max resisted the urge to punch him and pushed past him, muttering "Asshole" under her breath.

Nathan caught it and laughed. "Where are you going, anyway?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Max stopped and looked at him. "Now look who's not minding their own business."

"It was a fucking question, dyke," he snarled.

She scoffed. "Go to hell, Nathan."

A smirk quirked the corner of his mouth and he turned away from her. "Don't worry, I will at some point."

By the time Max thought of something to say, he was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Nathan received a text from Jefferson telling him to come to the Man's classroom. Apparently they had some "matters" to discuss.

Matters meaning Jefferson just picked out his next victim.

Nathan knocked on the classroom door.

"Come in," he heard Jefferson call, and he slowly turned the knob, heart beginning to race. Christ, everything inside of him told him to run, just like every other time he was forced to meet up with the teacher. And just like every other time, he ignored it. Why did he have to be such a fucking coward?

Jefferson looked up and motioned for Nathan to come in. "Lock the door behind you."

"I thought that went without saying," Nathan replied dryly. "You know, if the principle or another staff member walks by and sees you alone with me with the door locked, it's not gonna look good."

"Then I guess its good I have the Prescott's on my side," Jefferson chuckled. "Now get over here and look at this."

The younger man sighed and walked over to stand next to Jefferson. On the desk was a binder…and it was labeled "Victoria."

Nathan froze. His heart began to beat again so fast that he was almost sure it would stop beating all together, and he felt nauseous. This couldn't be fucking happening.

"No!" He gasped, flipping open the binder to double check even though he knew it wasn't a mistake.

"I'm sorry," Jefferson said quietly, "I know she's your friend, but I don't appreciate being threatened, and that's exactly what she did last night."

"So this is the price she pays, huh?" Nathan snarled. "This is what she gets? What, are you gonna put a bullet in her brain after you're done taking your sick fucking pictures and then bury her in the junkyard next to Rachel Amber?!" His voice was growing louder and louder with every word, but he didn't give a shit at the moment.

Jefferson's eyes narrowed and he took a step closer to Nathan, feeling satisfied when the younger man flinched and took a step back. "If it comes down to that, yes," he admitted. "But my goal isn't to kill Victoria. It's to teach her a lesson."

"A lesson that she'll barely remember when she wakes up in her dorm!"

"She'll remember enough."

Nathan's fists clenched and his face was red with anger. "You're fucking pathetic you know that?" He spat. "She made a threat that you _know_ was a bluff, and you feel the need to-"

"She would have been chosen sooner or later." Jefferson looked down at the open binder and ran a finger down a picture of Victoria. "Her threat just…sped up the process." He closed the binder and held it out to Nathan. "I'm thinking we get this done during the next Vortex part. Like with Kate."

"You can't make me do this." Nathan's voice began to crack and he hated it. He hated sounding weak. "Victoria's my best friend. You can't ask me to hurt her like this. I can't. I _won't_!"

"You will!" Jefferson's voice was firm. "You and I both know what'll happen if you don't. I shouldn't have to keep reminding you, Nathan."

Nathan opened his mouth to protest and then snapped it close. He stared at Jefferson angrily for a moment and the other man stared back, challenging him to refuse again. And Nathan wouldn't refuse, because a big part of him was too afraid to do it. So with a growl, he snatched the binder out of Jefferson's hand and didn't say another word as he practically ran out of the room, desperate to get out of there because he suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe.

"We'll talk later, Nathan," Jefferson told him right before he closed the door.

Nathan ignored him and angrily stormed down the hallway. Everything else became a blur around him. His throat felt tight and he could feel the rage inside of him dying to burst out, to take it out on someone. But his legs kept moving, pushing past anyone in his way.

God help anyone who attempted to stop him right now.

Despite everything's he done, despite all the shit Jefferson and his family has put him through, he had still held onto some kind of hope that everything would get better, that one day he would escape it all and get out of Arcadia Bay. It was small and barely existent, but it had been there. And now it wasn't. It wasn't there anymore. He had lost it in a matter of seven minutes from talking with Jefferson, and it felt like the Man had psychically reached into his chest and ripped it out. Nathan didn't know if he could survive without that hope.

Without Victoria.

It wasn't like he had feelings for her or anything. Yeah, they slept together sometimes, but she was his best friend in the whole world. She didn't know him better than anyone, but she came close to it. She was there for him whenever he needed her, and it would kill him if anything happened to her. Maybe not psychically-that depended on whether or not he was too much of a coward to end his life-but everything else inside of him would follow her. He wouldn't be the person he is now and he wouldn't even try to be. And considering that he's a fucking monster right now, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

Nathan wasn't sure how he made it to his dorm room, but as soon as he stepped foot inside it, he slammed the door shut and could feel it sliding down behind his back as he dropped to the ground. A pained cry that had been trapped there for years ripped out of his throat. It was broken and filled with nothing but sorrow and agony.

This wasn't supposed to be his life. This was never supposed to happen to him. He's nineteen years old, for fucks sake! He should be enjoying his life and getting ready to graduate college and then work alongside his bastard Father (not that he wanted to work with the asshole, but he could handle that much better than this.) Instead he's getting ready to lead his best friend to her possible death.

" _I can help you. We can work together to take down this asshole!"_

" _You know I can help you. Why won't you just accept it?"_

Max's words rang in Nathan's head. For whatever reason, she wanted to help him, even after all the shit he's pulled. Okay, maybe it didn't necessarily have to do with him, but she still wanted to help, and he had rejected it. But what the fuck else was he supposed to do? How could he let her help and risk everything? How could he trust her?

 _What else are you gonna do? You can't do this on your own, Nathan. You know that. May as well take the fucking chance and let her help you. Who knows, maybe she'll actually be useful._

"Fuck," he murmured, wiping his wet eyes. "Fuck. Okay. Okay."

Taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair, he found her number and quickly typed out a text before hitting send.

 _Don't make me regret this, Caulfield,_ he thought bitterly. _You won't like what I do if you betray me._

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Caulfield. meet me the diner. we gotta talk.**

Max frowned. She had a feeling that the text was from Nathan, but just to make sure, she texted back, _**Who is this?**_

 **Who the fuck do U think? Hurry ur ass up I'm not waiting for long**

"Max," Chloe said impatiently, "come on. Text your boyfriend in the truck. I wanna get out of here."

Max pocketed her phone and scowled at her friend. "For the last time, Chloe, Warren is not my boyfriend."

"Whatever. Let's just go."

The two girls left the house and climbed into Chloe's truck.

"We need to go to the diner," Max told Chloe.

Chloe's eyebrows drew together. "Okay, but why?"

Max hesitated and said carefully, "Listen, when I went through David's laptop, I found pictures of Rachel and Frank…being more than friends."

Chloe snorted. "Right. No way, Max. She was just posing to tease Frank."

"If you're not gonna believe me, why don't we check out what Frank has in his RV?"

"What's that gonna prove?"

It wasn't going to prove anything really important, because Rachel is dead and Max knows that. But it's not like she could tell Chloe that, and she was kind of curious about what Frank and Rachel had going on. And she had to meet Nathan at the diner anyway, right?

"Frank has Rachel's bracelet," she said. "What else does he have in there?"

"Mother fucker better not have anything," Chloe growled. "For his sake."

 _You're going through all this trouble for nothing, Max,_ she thought to herself as she stepped into the Two Whales diner. _You're giving Chloe so much hope by trying to help her find a girl who's dead. What kind of friend are you?_

Not a very good one. But, at the same time, she knew that she had to keep this a secret until she and Nathan ended this once and for all…If she could even convince him to let her help, that is.

Since both Nathan and Frank were in the diner, she wasn't sure who she should talk to first. Nathan wouldn't want to be kept waiting, but Frank could leave before she even got the keys.

 _Just quickly grab Frank's keys, rewind, and then go talk to Nathan._

Getting the keys wasn't as easy as she thought, even with her rewind powers. The first two ways epically failed and almost resulted in her getting a serious beating (not that the cop sitting at the counter would let that happen, but still.) Luckily the third time worked out fine-well, as fine as stealing keys off a guy and then rewinding before he could kill you could get-and she quickly ran the keys out to Chloe and got Pompidou out of the RV.

"I need to talk to Nathan real quick," she told her best friend. "You go see what you can find and I'll meet you out here."

Chloe frowned. "What the hell do you need to talk to Prescott about?"

Max quickly tried to come up with an excuse. "I, uh, have to ask him some questions. I'll also distract Frank if he tries to leave before you're finished here."

"Whatever, Max. Just hurry up, okay? I might need your help rewinding something."

Max quickly headed back into the diner and went straight to Nathan's table. The boy looked up at her and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Rachel," he said in surprise, actually sounding happy for a second. When he noticed it was just Max, he scowled. "Whateverthefuck. Why the hell are you wearing Rachel's clothes?"

"It's a long story," she muttered, sitting down across from him. She wouldn't mention how he just called her by a dead girl's name. "I don't have a lot of time. Chloe's currently searching Frank's RV for information on Rachel." She figured since he was honest with her for the most part, she would be honest with him.

Nathan's eyebrows shot up. "How'd you manage to pull that shit off?"

"I kind of stole his keys off of him."

"How do you _'kind of'_ steal keys off someone?" He shook his head. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. As long as your girlfriend doesn't find out the truth about Rachel, she can do whatever the fuck she wants." He took a sip of his soda and Max noticed how jittery he was.

"Can I ask you something without you freaking out?" Something inside of her told her to shut up before she said the wrong thing and pissed him off, but a bigger part of her was too curious.

There was a warning look in his eyes that was telling her to be careful of what she was about to ask. "What is it?" He snapped.

Max hesitated. "Um, it's just—I've noticed that you twitch and get jittery a lot," she began, trying to think of a way to ask her question carefully," and I was wondering why. Is it because of the medication you take?"

 _Idiot! He doesn't know that you know about that!_ Her mind screamed at her.

Her words caught him off guard for a moment, but then he fixed her with an angry glare. "How the fuck do you know about that?" He spat the words and it was obvious that it was taking everything inside of him to control the volume of his voice to avoid having the cop come over.

'It's not exactly hard to figure out that you're always doped up on a whole bunch of shit," Max retorted, sticking her foot further in her mouth.

If looks could kill, she would a die a horrible, painful death. "You don't know anything about me," Nathan hissed. "I'm sick of everyone thinking that they've got me figured out."

"I don't know much about you, Nathan, but it's obvious that you have a lot of problems." Max sighed and folded her hands on the table. "Look, I didn't come here to fight with you. I'm here because you said we needed to talk."

"And I'm a second away from saying 'fuck it' and walking out of here." He leaned back in his seat and turned to stare out the window.

There was an awkward silence between them. Max was inwardly cursing herself for getting him so worked up. Why couldn't she have kept her mouth shut? Not even that, but why did she have to piss him off further by making comments about him having issues? It wasn't like it was a secret to anyone in town. Everyone knew what he was really like. But she knew that it probably bothered Nathan to have everyone in town know that he wasn't right in the head.

"I'm sorry," she looked down at the table.

Nathan glanced at her, eyes cold. "What was that?"

"I said I'm sorry." She looked up and sighed. "Your problems aren't my business, and I'm sorry for bringing them up. I know it must suck to have everyone think that you're…" She tried to think of the right words to say, but there was nothing she could say without offending him again, so she went silent.

He regarded her for a moment and then shrugged. "Yeah, well, I don't really give a fuck what people think about me anymore." That wasn't entirely true and they both knew it.

"So…" Max began awkwardly, "what did you want to talk to me about?"

Nathan rubbed his eyes tiredly and turned around to motion for a waitress to bring him another soda.

"You still wanna help me, right?" He asked her when he was facing her again.

Max eyed him in slight suspicion. "Yes, I do."

"And as much as I hate to fucking admit it…" He paused and let out a short, humorless laugh with the shake of his head. "I might actually need your help." Max's eyes lit up a tiny bit and she opened her mouth to speak, but Nathan held up a finger. "I'll tell you who's behind all of this, but only if you promise to keep your mouth shut and not do anything that'll get us both screwed."

"I haven't opened my mouth yet, have I?"

"Better not have."

Max rested her chin on her knuckles and stared at him, waiting.

"Don't look at me like that. It's fucking creepy," he snapped at her. "And where the fuck is my soda? Christ, the service in this place is terrible."

"I wasn't-"She didn't bother to finish her sentence and shook her head. "Just tell me who it is, Nathan." She couldn't keep Chloe waiting for much longer and the curiosity was burning inside of her.

Nathan rolled his eyes at her and angled his head to the side, looking at her in disbelief. "I'm not gonna fuckin' tell you here." A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You can come back to my dorm again tonight."

She couldn't have missed the smugness in his tone if she tried. But before she could answer him, she saw Chloe march into the diner and immediately go for Frank.

"Shit," Max muttered, jumping up to stop her friend from doing anything too rash.

Nathan watched her run over to the girl and grinned. After the shit day he's had, a good show is just what he needs.

Chloe slammed her hands on the table Frank was sitting at and leaned in close until she practically in his face.

"What the fuck were you doing with Rachel, Frank?!" She yelled angrily.

Max put a gentle hand on Chloe's shoulder. "Calm down, Chloe-"

Chloe shook the hand off, not looking away from Frank. "I'm not gonna calm down until this prick tells me what the fuck those love letters were that I found in his RV!"

"What?" Frank's eyes narrowed and he stood up. "What the fuck were you doing in my RV, bitch?"

Everyone in the diner was staring at them and Officer Berry stood up. "I don't know what's going on here, but I think we all need to calm down, and-"

Frank ignored him. "Answer me! What were you doing in my RV?"

"Looking for answers!" Chloe shouted back. "And I got plenty." She pushed off the table and stepped back, eyes burning with anger. "I loved her, asshole, and I know that she loved me. If you think that you meant anything to her-"

"I think those letters you found in _my_ RV proved what I fucking meant to her," Frank growled. "The only thing holding her back was you."

"You son of a-"

"Chloe!" Max cried. "Not here. Not now."

"Not ever." Frank stood up and threw some bills on the table. He glared at Chloe and took a step towards her. In a low voice so no one would hear them, he said, "I want my fucking money, and then I don't ever wanna see your faces again. You can get your weed from someone else." He walked past Chloe and bumped his shoulder into hers, and then left the diner.

It was silent for a moment. Chloe stood still, shaking, and Max knew to give the girl a minute. She looked at Officer Berry and nodded at him, silently letting him know that he didn't need to bother stepping in. He sighed and sat back down. He seemed too tired to do much anyway.

"Well," Nathan said suddenly from behind Max, causing her to jump, "I don't know what the fuck that was all about, but thanks for the show, ladies."

"Fuck you, Prescott," Chloe hissed.

"In your dreams, hoe," he shot back before turning to Max. "I'll see you tonight," he told her, that annoying smirk on his face before his expression grew serious and almost…dangerous. "Be there, or you can forget helping me."

Chloe spun around. "What? What the fuck is he talking about, Max? What are you helping him with?" She glared at Nathan darkly.

Nathan answered before Max could. "Was I fucking speaking to you? Mind your business, punk-ass."

"Max is my best friend. She _is_ my business, asshole." Chloe looked at Max. "Well, Max? What's going on? Is this what took you so long?" She demanded, growing angry again.

Max put a hand over her eyes and sighed. "Chloe, Nathan just needed my help taking pictures for a project Mr. Jefferson is having us do." It was the best lie she could come up with.

"Uh-huh. Right." Chloe crossed her arms, clearly not believing a word Max was saying. "Why would he choose you, Max? And why would you even help him?"

"Because…It's a good opportunity to get some good shots."

"And I think she owes me after getting me suspended," Nathan added in a hard voice. He was still pissed about that.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Chloe took a step towards Nathan, ready to tell him off, but Max grabbed her arm to hold her back. Getting into anything with Nathan right now was not a good idea.

"You kids should get going," Officer Berry said in a tone that left no room for protest. "And no fighting, you hear?"

Nathan waved the man off. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I was just about to leave anyway." He looked at Max and Chloe with a smug expression on his face. "Catch you bitches later." He winked at Max and walked out of the diner.

Max looked at Chloe wearily. "Chloe, I-"

The other girl shook her head and stormed out of the diner.

"Chloe!"

Chloe ignored her and Max was left standing alone.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The car ride was silent for the most part. Max didn't exactly know what to say to her best friend. Chloe was currently in her _I'm pissed at the fucking world_ mood, and Max didn't want to fight. But she couldn't let Chloe drive off without at least attempting to talk to her or apologize.

"Look, Chloe," Max said softly, "you and I both hate Nathan. Me helping him with some stupid project doesn't change that."

"I don't care about the project, Max. You can do whatever you want."

Max could feel a headache coming on. "You're being ridiculous. Nathan and I can't stand one another. Do you honestly think he and I are going to bond and suddenly become best friends?"

"I'm just sick of everyone bailing on me and shitting all over me," Chloe snapped. "My dad died, you left me, my mom married step-fucker, Rachel was fucking Frank behind my back, and now you and Nathan-"

"Don't even finish that sentence, Chloe Price," Max cut in, voice sharper than she intended. "Whatever Rachel was doing with Frank…she didn't do it to hurt you. And _I'm_ not going to hurt you. If you think for a second that anything will _ever_ happen between me and Nathan, you're crazy."

"Tell me it was Warren who you really had to help that night," Chloe pushed. "Tell me you ran out on me to help him with his science project, and not to help Nathan. Because I find it funny that they both asked for your help on their 'projects.'"

And in that moment, Max wanted to spill everything to Chloe. She wanted to come clean about Rachel. She wanted to tell her friend about how Nathan had broken into her dorm room, agreed to tell her what he had been hiding, and then made her feel something she's never felt before. And he didn't just make her feel that way once, but twice. She wanted to confess about what she was really helping Nathan with. She wanted it all out in the open, because she didn't know if she really could keep this all in any longer.

But she had to. She had to keep this to herself, even if it meant losing Chloe. She would rather Chloe be angry with her than put her best friend in any more danger.

"It was Warren," Max answered, looking down at her lap.

There was a silence that hung between them for a long time. Chloe kept looking over at her with an expression that held both anger and hurt and concern.

"Fine, Max," Chloe said at last. "Don't tell me the truth. You wouldn't be the first person to keep things from me."

"Chloe-"

"Drop it."

The rest of the ride was silent. When they finally reached the school, Chloe refused to look at Max when the girl got out of the car or say goodbye. Max felt her heart sink as she watched Chloe drive away.

 _She has every right to be pissed, Max. This is what you get from keeping things from her and lying. The only thing you can do now is go back to your dorm until it's time to wait for Nathan._

The thought of being alone with Nathan in his dorm again raised goosebumps on her arms, and she hated it. Nathan Prescott should _not_ be making her feel this way. Ever.

So why couldn't she get him out of her head? She really did dislike him. He was psychotic and he was dangerous and he was an asshole. But at the same time, he was all she could think about lately. Why did her body have to betray and confuse her so much? There was no way she actually wanted, Nathan, right? Her body was just reacting that way around him because a guy's never bothered with her before like he had, whether he was just teasing her or not.

 _That has to be it,_ she absently thought to herself as she made her way back to her dorm room. _Just don't let him tease you like that again, and everything will be fine. You can help take down the Man whose capturing girls, and then you both can go your separate ways. Easy._

Except it wasn't easy at all. She would find that out soon enough.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Nathan lit a joint, inhaled, and passed it to Victoria who looked slightly bored.

"Did you just bring me here to get high?" She huffed, accepting the joint. "Because I have a shitload of homework that I have to get done, and-"

"Fuck that," Nathan laughed. "You're at the top of all your classes. You can afford to take a load off."

The two were sitting in Nathan's car on top of a hill that overlooked the beach. It was one of the places they went when they wanted to drink or get high or fool around a little.

Nathan needed to be with Victoria right now. He needed to be around her and know that she was there with him, because she would be taken away from him if he and Max failed to stop Jefferson.

"I guess you're right," Victoria sighed. "I just don't want my Parents to cut off my trust fund."

"If they do, fuck 'em." Nathan leaned back in his seat and angled his head into the headrest.

Victoria giggled. "You'll take care of me if that happens, right, Nathan?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…Of course I will, babe." He couldn't look at her when he said that and instead focused on holding in his smoke. He just wanted to get stoned and forget about all the shit he's been dealing with.

She put a hand on his arm, forcing him to look at her. He hated the worried look that filled her eyes. "Are you okay, Nathan? You seem…distant."

"Maybe because I'm on my way to forgetting my own fucking name," he responded dryly, holding up the joint.

"Not that kind of distant…It just seems like something is upsetting you." Her voice began to seem far away as his high kicked in.

"Same old shit, Vic." He smiled lazily and passed her back the joint. "Now shut up and smoke up, gorgeous."

She rolled her eyes but smirked and took back the joint. "Is it your dad?"

The smile fell from Nathan's face and was replaced with a scowl. "Way to be a fucking buzzkill."

"I'm serious."

"He's part of it, just like the prick always is." He slumped in his seat and rested one side of his head on his knuckles. "I don't wanna talk about him, all right?"

Victoria nodded apologetically. "Right. Sorry."

"Forget it."

Suddenly an idea came to him and without even considering the fact that Victoria was right next to him, he turned in his seat and reached behind it to grab one of his text books from school and a small black bag where he sometimes kept his supplies. He rummaged around for a moment until he found the bag of white powder.

"Ugh. You're gonna do that here?" Victoria eyed the bag of coke with distaste.

Nathan turned back around and shrugged. "Why the fuck not?"

"Um, maybe because we're in public and you're the one who's driving us back to school. Besides, if the police show up for whatever reason-"

"They won't," Nathan reassured her. "And if they do, so what? They wouldn't be stupid enough to arrest me. My father and lawyer would fuck them in the ass."

Victoria grimaced. "I guess. Look, I just don't understand why you have to do this kind of stuff. Weed is one thing, but cocaine is a whole other story. That shit is bad for you."

"Yeah, well, sometimes it's easier to pump myself full of mind-blowing chemicals than deal with my fucking issues."

Without waiting for her reply, he opened the bag and poured a small amount of cocaine onto the textbook. He whipped out one of his credit cards from his wallet and a crumpled up receipt, and used the credit card to make a neat line of the cocaine. Then he rolled up the receipt and leaned down, excitement filling him as he snorted the entire line.

Nathan's done cocaine plenty of times, but he still fucking hated the way it made him feel at first. There was a tightening of his sinus and a sharp pain, and he squeezed his eyes shut while he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to resist the urge to sneeze.

"Wanna try it?" He asked Victoria, grinning as she stared at the bag, clearly a little more than curious even though she had just given him shit for doing it not even five minutes ago.

"I don't know…I really shouldn't…"

"Come on, do it with me," he urged. "It'll be fine. We can get fucked up together."

Victoria bit her lip as she eyed the bag of cocaine with a way expression. After a moment she murmured, "Fuck it," and snatched the bag of coke out of his hand along with the textbook and receipt. She copied what Nathan did, positioning the coke into a neat line and leaned down, snorting it all up through the rolled up receipt before she could stop herself.

She sniffed and rubbed at her nose. "Shit, that fucking hurts," she whined.

"Like a bitch," Nathan agreed.

The effects of the cocaine hit them both hard a minute later.

Just as he turned the radio on to some pop station, his fingers began to tingle. The tingling moved up through his entire body and his ears began to ring, and suddenly he's fucking _flying._ Being high on both marijuana and cocaine only made the feeling so much better.

Lady Gaga's song "Pokerface" comes on the radio and Victoria yells at him to turn it up because _she fucking loves this song!_ And Nathan had never been a huge fan of the weird bitch or her music, but it doesn't fucking matter right now. He turns the volume up all the way and begins to shamelessly sing along to the song with Victoria.

His high right now…It was the best fucking feeling in the world. It was like there wasn't anything in the world that he couldn't do, and right now he wanted to do everything. He wanted to get all of his work from school done, and run away from Arcadia Bay (maybe even take Victoria with him if she'd go), and eat as much as he could, and not eat anything at all. He wanted to kill Mark fucking Jefferson, and tell his asshole father what he really thought about him, and apologize to Kate, and kiss Max Caulfield.

He wanted to kiss Max Caulfield.

Nathan wasn't sure where the fuck that thought came from all of a sudden, but he couldn't get it out of his head. Maybe it was the drugs, or maybe it was a desire he hadn't even realized he had, but he wanted to kiss Max. He wanted to push that annoying, nosy, feminazi hipster bitch against the door and kiss her until her mouth was bruised. He wanted to run his fingers through her hair and mark up her neck for the world to see. He wanted dig his nails into her skin and make her moan his name over and over again.

He wanted to fucking break that girl and put her back together again all at once.

Maybe tonight he would get his chance.

The effects of the cocaine wear off a half hour later, and he and Victoria slump against the car doors, breathing heavily from laughing so hard at absolutely nothing and singing at the top of their lungs.

"Not bad, huh?" He said to Victoria with a tired grin.

"You were right. It was fun." She sniffed and let out a giggle. "I just wish it had lasted longer."

Nathan chuckled and held up the bag. "Wanna go for round two?"

"…I guess one more time wouldn't hurt."

To his annoyance, he spent the next thirty minutes only thinking about Max, and he knew that he had to get this girl out of his system one way or another.


	5. Chapter 5

Max didn't know what the fuck she had done or what had just happened, but she knew instantly that it wasn't good.

It had all started when she was looking at a picture of her and Chloe from when they were kids. One minute she was staring at it with a small ache in her chest, and then the picture had begun to shake and she could vaguely hear her and Chloe's voices. Once she had gotten past her shock, she focused on it, trying to figure out what the hell was happening to her now. The next thing she knew, she was back in her twelve year old body and standing in the middle of Chloe's kitchen with William right in front of her.

Honestly, that should have been code red. She should have tried to get back to the future. Instead, she decided to be Super Max and save William from getting into that horrible car accident. And while she was doing it so Chloe could have her Dad back and William could have a second chance at living, she should have realized that she would be seriously messing with the future. It was almost common sense, wasn't it? Hasn't she seen enough movies to know that what she was doing wasn't anything good?

Unfortunately, she did not. It didn't occur to her that she had screwed up until she was suddenly sitting next to Victoria and the other members of the Vortex club, and Nathan Prescott was laying on the grass with his head on her lap while she ran her fingers through his hair.

"What the hell?" She gasped, jerking her hand away from his hair as if she had been burned.

Nathan looked up at her and frowned. "You okay, babe?"

 _Okay…Nathan Prescott just called me babe. Stop blushing, Max!_

"Can you-can you get off me?" She said shakily, feeling relieved when he immediately complied and sat up. When he did, she couldn't help but notice that he wasn't wearing the red jacket he normally sported and was instead wearing a blue one.

"Max," Nathan said softly, as if he didn't want anyone else to hear them, "what's wrong? Is this about that girl Chloe again?"

Max froze. "What do you mean? What happened to Chloe?"

"I think Max is high," Courtney said with a roll of her eyes.

"She's not high," Nathan shot back.

"Well, she's acting totally weird. She's always moping over her best friend-"

Nathan shot daggers at Courtney. "Shut up," he snapped.

"Would you two make out already and stop fighting?" Victoria teased with a smirk.

"No can do, Vic," Nathan said, wrapping an arm around Max, "Max is the only girl I want to make out with. Besides, who the fuck would want to kiss Courtney?"

"Fuck you, Nathan," Courtney scoffed.

Max shook her head and stood up, ignoring the concerned look on Nathan's face. She couldn't deal with this right now. She had to see Chloe. Without saying another word, she began to walk away from the group, but stopped short when she saw Warren and Stella holding hands.

 _So…I hooked up with Nathan, and Warren hooked up with Stella? How the hell could all of this have happened just because I saved William's life? What else have I changed?_

"Max!"

Max sighed and turned around. "I don't have time for this, Nathan. I have to find Chloe."

Nathan looked hesitant. "Are you sure you're ready for that?"

"Ready for _what?"_

"…Okay, seriously, Max, did you smoke with Victoria in the bathroom earlier? Not that I give a shit, but you're acting pretty fucking weird-"

"I'm not high!" She cried, "I just…I need to see Chloe." She turned away from him to continue walking, but he gently grabbed her arm and turned her back to face him.

"I'll go with you," he said. "We can take my car."

Max shook her head and pulled her arm away, feeling slightly bad for some reason when Nathan's face fell. "I don't need you to go with me, Nathan."

"I know you don't, Max. But I'm your boyfriend and I'm going anyway." He smirked. "Try and stop me, Caulfield."

She debated making a run for it, but he'd probably be able to catch up to her pretty quickly. And because she knew he wouldn't give up until she let him go with her, she sighed and nodded. "Fine. But we have to go now."

"Yes, ma'am."

The ride to Chloe's house was mostly silent at first, except for when Max was giving Nathan directions. At one point he had tried to take her hand, but Max had pulled away and came up with some poor excuse about how he should have both hands on the wheel. But when she saw the hurt look on his face, she relented and took his hand.

And no, her heart did not flutter when he looked over at her and gave her a smile that was genuine and wasn't bitter, for once.

 _I wonder if he's drugging girls in this alternate universe, or if that changed along with everything else._

"So, um...how did we meet?" She asked before she could stop herself.

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "What, now you're gonna tell me that you don't remember how we met?"

"Humor me."

"Whatever," Nathan said through a soft laugh. "We met when Victoria introduced you to the rest of the gang."

"The gang?"

"The Vortex Club." He rolled his eyes and began to fiddle with the dial for the stereo.

"Oh." She could feel herself blushing a tiny bit. "Okay. And, uh, how did we get together?"

His fingers stilled and he glanced over at her, frowning. "Did you hit your head or something? Should I take you to a Doctor?" He was only half-teasing.

"Maybe I just want to make sure that you remember," she replied with a glare.

"Whatever you say, babe. I asked you out and you agreed. The rest is history."

"That's it?" She hated how she sounded slightly disappointed.

"You can test me later, Max. We're here." Nathan pulled into the driveway, and Max jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped.

 _Please let Chloe be okay. Please let Chloe be okay._

Heart pounding, she knocked on the door and held her breath while she waited, barely noticing Nathan coming to stand beside her. A moment later, it was William who answered the door.

 _William, thank God you're alive,_ she thought desperately.

"Max Caulfield," the man said in surprise. "Taking a break after taking Seattle by storm, huh?" He looked at Nathan and his eyebrows drew together. "And…Nathan Prescott. This is a…surprise."

Nathan muttered a "hi" under his breath and looked down at the ground.

"He's with me," Max explained. "He's my…boyfriend." God, it felt weird to say those words.

"Oh," William replied lightly, "I see. That's nice, Max. You know, we thought we'd never see you again after you left for the big city."

Max shook her head. "No…I'd never do that to Chloe."

"Speaking of…I know she's been dying to see you. Hold on." He turned around and called, "Chloe! You have visitors!"

Time seemed to slow down after that. The first thing she noticed, surprisingly, was the fact that Chloe's hair wasn't dyed anymore. The second thing she noticed was that her best friend was now in a wheel chair with a tube around her neck. Seeing Chloe like that…she couldn't help but cover her mouth in shock. Even Nathan let out a sharp breath, though she wasn't entirely sure why. She doubted that they were friends, even in this alternate reality.

 _Oh no, Chloe…Shit. What the fuck have I done?!_

Chloe smiled softly at Max. "Hey, Max. Long time no see." She glanced at Nathan but didn't say anything. He nodded at her in return.

"Chloe…I…" Max choked out. Tears welled up in her eyes and her throat felt tight.

"It's okay, Max," Chloe replied softly.

Max almost let out a sob.

"Can we have a minute?" Nathan spoke up, ignoring the confused look Max gave him.

William nodded in understanding. "Of course. Chloe, let's get these two something to drink."

Though Chloe wanted to protest and comfort her best friend, she nodded and allowed her father to wheel her away into the kitchen, leaving Max and Nathan alone. Nathan's arms suddenly circled around Max's waist, and she felt his hot breath on her ear as he whispered in it, "You don't have to see her today. If this is too hard for you, we'll go and come back when you're ready. We can come up with some kind of excuse. Just say the word, Max."

"N-no," Max stuttered, head starting to spin like it usually did when Nathan was much too close to her. "I have to talk to Chloe. I have to."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes." Her voice was stronger. She took a few steps into the house, but stopped when she didn't hear him following her. "Are you coming inside?"

Nathan stared at her a weary expression on his face. "Max, I'm not sure that we should-"

"Nathan, I'm going to talk to Chloe," she interjected. "You can come with me like you insisted, or you can leave."

He was quiet for a moment, thinking. She could see that he was battling between leaving and staying, and she didn't understand why. Did seeing Chloe that way make him uncomfortable? Did he know something that she didn't? "I'll stay," he said at last with a sigh. "But I'm only doing this for you."

She couldn't help give him a small smile. The Nathan that she knew was used to was complete asshole, but this Nathan in this reality was actually kind of sweet.

 _Enjoy it while it lasts, Max. When you figure out how to fix all of this, the scary prick will be back._

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

William hung around while Chloe, Max, and Nathan sat down to talk and have a glass of juice, much to his daughter's annoyance. His eyes mostly remained on Nathan, as if he suspected the boy to cause trouble. Max could see that it was making Nathan more and more uncomfortable, if not a little angry, and she finally decided to help him out and suggested that they take a walk.

"That doesn't mean you too, Dad," Chloe said flatly.

William gave her an innocent look and set down his keys.

An awkward silence hung between the three of them while they walked along the beach. Nathan kept shooting glances at Chloe, and Max could see that they were filled with guilt and fear. It gave her a very uneasy feeling, and the fact that Chloe was doing everything she could not to look at Nathan didn't help any. After a few minutes, Nathan muttered something about leaving the two girls to talk, and let them walk past him while he hung back.

"It's weird hanging out with you again," Chloe broke the silence, "and seeing you with a boyfriend."

"I'm just as surprised as you are…about the boyfriend part, I mean," Max admitted. "I…can't believe I'm dating Nathan Prescott."

Chloe let out a snort. "I can't, either. How the hell did that happen?"

 _I have no fucking idea._ "We're both in the Vortex Club, and he asked me out. I didn't want to be rude and say no, so…here we are now."

"So are you dating him so you don't hurt his feelings, or do you actually like him?"

Max pondered the question. How was she supposed to answer that? She would never date someone she wasn't into just to spare their feelings, but she also wasn't sure if she could ever see herself liking Nathan Prescott. He was involved in too many bad things. He wasn't stable. He had hurt three of her friends, and if Max didn't have her rewind powers, he would have murdered Chloe. Maybe it would have been an accident, but that doesn't change anything. Plus, he was cruel and snobby and arrogant and whole bunch of other things. But even Max had to admit that there was more to him than that. The night she went to his room and listened while he explained everything to her proved that. She had seen a different side of him, even if it was only for a moment. It went without saying that she had a lot to learn about Nathan, and for reasons she really couldn't explain, she wanted to learn everything about him.

That does not mean she likes him. She's just too curious for her own good.

Remembering that Chloe was still waiting for an answer, Max said, "I…I like him." She only said it because she didn't want Chloe to think of her badly. Besides, it didn't matter what she told the girl, right? Max would find a way to fix all of this and get things back to how they were.

"Well, I'll admit that I'm not thrilled about you dating Nathan Prescott, but…I just hope you're happy, Max," Chloe sighed.

"I am, Chloe. You don't have to worry about me." Max looked down at her hands and decided to change the subject. "I'm sorry this is the first time I've come to see you since I moved back here."

"At least you sent me actual letters. That's more than any of my other friends have done…And you even wrote on that cool parchment paper. That's so Max."

"So pretentious," Max scoffed. "But I love writing on it, like an English poet. You deserve the best stationary."

"Probably easier to write than to visit me." Chloe realized how bitter she sounded and backtracked. "I don't mean that in a bitchy way. Not totally. You probably had your hands full with your boyfriend and everything."

Max put a hand on Chloe's shoulder. "He doesn't come before you, Chloe. I'm sorry if I made you feel like he does. You're much more important to me than he is."

"Whoa, Max. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you like me more than your own boyfriend," Chloe teased.

"I do like Nathan, but…I mean, he and I haven't been a couple for too long. I've known you my whole life."

They stopped walking and turned to look at the ocean and the poor Whales that were lying dead across the beach. Looking at them made Max's stomach turn.

"This is seriously the best view of the sunset," Chloe said. "What do photographers call that?"

"The Golden Hour," Max answered quietly.

"See? Without you here, I'd have no clue. Bet you could take some amazing shots…Those beached whales are so sad. I kind of know how they feel." Chloe sighed. "At least I'm alive here with you."

Nathan caught up with them then, not wanting to be left behind any longer, and slung an arm around Max's shoulder. She almost shook his arm off, but decided against it.

He looked at the whales and whistled. "Christ. How the fuck does something like this happen?"

"It's probably the end of the world," Chloe grumbled, clearly not happy about him interrupting her and Max's conversation, and her tone didn't go by unnoticed.

"How did you end up in a wheelchair, anyway?" Nathan asked, a sharp edge to his tone.

Max gasped. "Nathan!"

"It's fine, Max," Chloe said calmly. Her eyes seemed to bore into Nathan's when she said, "Some prick in an SUV cut me off and I flew into a ditch."

Nathan paled, but Max didn't notice. "Do you…remember everything?" She asked Chloe carefully.

"I saw everything in bullet time. I felt my back snap and…And that was the last thing I ever felt in my body. When I woke up at the hospital, I literally couldn't move a muscle."

"Do you know who caused the accident?" Nathan was trying to control his voice, but Max could hear the tremble.

Chloe's jaw clenched and she looked down at her lap. Two times she opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. "No," she finally said, voice filled with bitterness. Max knew that it wasn't the answer the girl wanted to give, but for whatever reason, Chloe chose to lie.

Nathan relaxed a bit, but his shoulders were still tense. "That sucks."

"The asshole got away while I'm stuck in a wheelchair, paralyzed. It is what it is, I guess." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I just hope he knows what he's done to me, and I hope he feels like absolute shit about it."

The boy swallowed and nodded. "I'm sure he does…More than you'll ever know."

That's when it finally clicked in Max's brain. Nathan was the one who caused the accident. He's the reason Chloe is like this, and this is why he wanted to leave. But why would he even bother to come along with her then? There was no way he hadn't known that it was Chloe who he had hit. And why was Chloe refusing to rat him out? Max wanted to feel angry at Nathan for doing this to her best friend, and a part of her was, but she wasn't as angry as she should have been and wanted to be. She could see the pain and guilt and fear on his face. It was the same look he had when he had confessed to her about everything that night in his room. Even in this universe you find a way to ruin your life and someone else's, Nathan. Knowing that, a small part of her couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"I could have ended up vanishing out of the blue like that girl from Blackwell," Chloe said, snapping Max out of her thoughts.

"You mean Rachel Amber?" Max looked at Nathan to see if the name would have any effect on him, but it didn't seem to. Either he was good at putting on a mask, or he really didn't have anything to do with Rachel in this universe.

"When was the last time you talked to her?"

Chloe looked confused. "Uh, never. I just read about her in the news. I didn't even know her name. You did?"

"No…She went missing before I moved back here."

"I used to hang with her," Nathan said with a grimace. "She hung around the Vortex Club a lot."

"The Vortex Club," Chloe let out a small laugh. "How could I forget? I take it you're one of them now, Max?"

Max shrugged. "I guess so." She could see the small look of hurt on Chloe's face and sighed. "Listen, Chloe…I'm sorry I haven't been out to see you more. That was wrong. You're my best friend."

Chloe's voice was sad when she spoke. "Max, thanks for coming out to see me…even though you brought _him_ along."

"I wanted to come with her," Nathan snapped. "She's my girlfriend. I have a right to be here to support her."

"Did I say otherwise?" Chloe rolled her eyes. "Look, let's just go back to my house. I'm getting tired, and it's freezing out here."

Max agreed and silently said her goodbyes to the poor whales on the beach. Nathan took her hand as they walked, and this time she let him instead of pulling away. Holding hands with Nathan was weird and awkward, but it was also kind of…nice. But as soon as Chloe was a little farther ahead of them, Nathan spun Max around to face him…and kissed her.

It wasn't a peck or a simple kiss. This kiss was deep and desperate and there was tongue, much to Max's surprise and horror. His hands came to cup her ass and Max gasped, face turning beet red.

 _Holy shit, Nathan Prescott is kissing me! Push him away, Max! Punch him! DO SOMETHING!_

And she did do something, but it definitely wasn't what she wanted to do. For the third time, her hormones betrayed her and she closed her eyes and moaned into the kiss.

 _Seriously, Max? You're not some horny teenager. You should be able to control yourself!_

Well, how was she supposed to control herself when a guy was shoving his tongue down her throat and the feeling she got in her stomach was stronger than ever? Even if said guy just happened to be Nathan Prescott.

Nathan finally pulled away and seeing the lust in his eyes did nothing to help her. "I've wanted to do that all day," he admitted, voice a low growl.

"O-oh. R-really?" She practically squeaked. Yes, squeaked. Nathan Prescott was even messing with her voice.

"Well, that and more," he smirked. "But if we don't stop now, I'm not gonna be able to control myself. I don't think you want your first time to be in public." He paused and a mischievous look crossed his face. "I'd definitely be down for that, though."

Max crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly self-conscious. "That's disgusting."

Nathan chuckled. "Baby, you have no idea how dirty I can be. All you have to do is ask."

 _Bastard. Stop saying things like that! It's having an effect on me that I'm not entirely sure I can handle._

"Are you two coming, or should I give you some privacy?" Chloe called from up ahead, sounding disgusted.

The fact that Chloe just witnessed everything made Max blush harder. "Sorry, Chloe. We're coming."

"Not in the way I wish we were," Nathan muttered. He glared at Chloe. "What a fuckin' cockblock."

Max scoffed and refused to meet his eyes. "Let's go."

They caught up to Chloe and once again walked in an uncomfortable silence. Max was thankful for it this time, though. She needed some peace and quiet for a few minutes to gather her thoughts. How the hell was she supposed to face Nathan when she fixes everything? She definitely was not going to be able to look at him the same, that was for damn sure.

She stole a glance at Nathan and nearly jumped when she saw that he was looking at her too, the corner of his mouth lifting into a half-smirk. He leaned close to her and whispered, just for her to hear, "Maybe we can finish what we started a few minutes ago…If you're up for it, I mean. I don't want to pressure into doing anything you don't want to do." Max flushed and didn't say anything, but she silently prayed that she could find a way to get things back to how they were before. If she didn't…Nathan Prescott would surely be the end of her.


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you staying too?" Chloe asked Nathan in snarky tone once they were in the house.

Nathan shrugged and shoved his hands inside his jacket pockets. "I can hang around for a little while, I guess."

"You don't have to stay for me," Max said quickly. "I'll take the bus home."

"Who said I'm staying for you?" His tone was teasing but his eyes flickered to Chloe's for a second before they moved back to Max.

 _He must be afraid that she's going to tell me as soon as he leaves._

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to get him to leave, Max turned to Chloe. "Is it okay with you if he stays?"

Chloe frowned and looked away. "Whatever. Just as long as he doesn't interrupt the time I have left with you."

Nathan snorted. "I'll sit in the corner and knit while you two ladies gossip and braid each other's hair, okay?"

"I can't braid her hair. I can't move my arms, _remember_?" Nathan glared at her and Chloe gave him a smug look in return.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Chloe's room was kind of cool. Very high-tech. Even Nathan had been impressed, though Max had caught the wince when he saw all of the machines. She couldn't even imagine what it must be like to see the person whose life you changed for the worst. It was all there, right in front of him, and it was obvious that the guilt was clawing at him. Not that he would ever admit it. He wouldn't offer an apology to Chloe. He would think the words desperately, but he would never say them out loud.

"So, how are you supposed to take a dump?" He asked out of the blue, leaning against the end of Chloe's bed.

"Seriously, Nathan?" Max groaned.

"Either a nurse or my mom wipe my ass," Chloe answered nonchalantly.

Nathan wrinkled his nose. "I'm sorry I asked."

"I bet you are." Chloe turned her head to Max. "Can you bring me some water? I'm dying of thirst."

"Of course," Max said. She jumped up to grab the cup of water and held it while Chloe took a long sip.

"Oh man, no wonder my throat is dry," Chloe said. "I don't think I've talked this much in a whole year."

"Have you ever thought about doing a podcast or something?"

Nathan burst out laughing. "A podcast, Max? Really?"

"It's just an idea," Max replied defensively. "And I was talking to Chloe."

He put up his hands in mock-surrender and went quiet.

"I hate to say it," Chloe said, "but he's right. What would I do? Tell everyone about the sad and lonely life of Chloe Price?"

Max gave her a look. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know it's not…But either way, no."

They talked for a little bit longer while Nathan listened but remained silent. When Chloe suggested she and Max watch a movie, he understood that it was his cue to get the fuck out.

"If you're staying tonight, I'll pick you up tomorrow morning," he told Max, planting a quick kiss on her lips.

Max ignored the gagging sounds Chloe made and fought against the blush that was trying to appear. "O-okay. That's fine. Thanks."

"No problem, babe."

Nathan left, and the two girls put on the movie. Soon it felt like old times, just the two of them having a sleepover and watching _Blade runner._ Even if it was in an alternate universe, it was still nice to relax and spend time with Chloe. They hadn't gotten to do it very often since they had reconnected in what Max likes to call, _the real universe._ That's what it is, isn't it? This universe is fake, in a way, while the other is how things are supposed to be.

Chloe fell asleep halfway through the movie, leaving Max to stay up by herself and finish it. She was fine with that, though. It was nice to see the peaceful look on Chloe's face as the girl slept. Max knew that once she got back to the real universe, she wouldn't get to see it again for a long time. Not until Rachel is found, at least. And seeing how Rachel is really dead…It was only a matter of time before Chloe found out the truth.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

True to his word, Nathan showed up at Chloe's house a little after 10:00 the next day. He almost texted Max to just meet him outside, but there was something he had to do. Something he should have done a long time ago.

"Nathan," William greeted when he answered the door.

Nathan nodded at the man. "I'm here to get Max."

"She's in Chloe's room. Come on in."

"Thanks."

"Can I get you something to drink?"

Nathan could barely stand the way William was being so polite to him despite knowing that he was a Prescott. The name was popular around town, but not in a very good way.

"No, thanks."

William could see that the boy was uncomfortable and offered him a small smile. He nodded towards Chloe's room. "Well, don't let me keep you. Head on in."

Nathan didn't need to be told twice. He gave William a quick nod and walked to Chloe's room. He lifted his hand to knock on the door—and paused.

 _You really wanna go in there and see it all again, Prescott?_

No, he didn't. He didn't want to see Chloe stuck in her "bed," unable to grab a cup of fucking water because she couldn't move her arms. He didn't want to see her hooked up to all those machines, or see the sadness and anger and the _look at what you've done to me_ in her eyes every time she looked at him. He didn't want to hear the bitterness in her voice when she spoke to him or about him. He just didn't want to do it. It was becoming too much, and so was the guilt.

But he told Max he would be here to pick her up, and he needed to talk to Chloe. So with a shaky fist he knocked on the door.

Max opened the door almost immediately and blinked in surprise when she saw Nathan. "Uh…"

He chuckled. "I told you I would be here to bring you home, remember?"

"Oh! Right. It completely slipped my mind." She looked back at Chloe who was looking down at her bed. "I just have to grab Chloe something. Can you wait here?"

 _No_ , was what he wanted to say, but he didn't want to seem like some fucking puppy dog for following his girlfriend around everywhere, so he just said, "Yeah."

"Okay…" Max looked between Chloe and Nathan uneasily. "Try not to kill each other while I'm gone."

"How long will you be?" Nathan tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

"Five minutes tops."

 _A lot can happen in five minutes. Fuck._ "Oh, okay. Yeah, I think we can resist the urge to rip each other's throats out for that long."

"Not like I could do much, anyway," Chloe muttered, but he ignored her.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

As soon as Max left, Nathan felt an urge to go with her. All he had to do was make up an excuse, say he had to go to the bathroom or something. But he knew what needed to happen. It was inevitable at this point.

She wasn't saying anything, but she didn't have to. The angry looks and small comments made it clear that she knew what he had done to her. She was paralyzed because of him. All this equipment in the room, all the machines—they were because of him. She no longer had a future ahead of her. And her parents were probably drowning in debt because of him, because there was no way _they_ would be able to afford all of this. He had ruined their lives, too.

All of those reasons were keeping him from running out of the room like a coward. There was no way he could ever make this right, but the very least he could do was apologize. He wasn't a heartless bastard. He _did_ feel extremely guilty and sorry for what he'd done, and it had been eating away at him ever since it all happened. He had just been too afraid to do anything about it.

But he was here now, and fuck if he was gonna miss his chance.

There were a million things he wanted to say, but they all formed into two, whispered and broken words. "I'm sorry." _Come on, Nathan, you can do better than that._ He was about to say more, but her laugh stopped him. It was soft and sad and barely even a laugh.

"Are you?" Her eyes were practically burning a hole in his, but he didn't look away.

"More than I ever thought I could be." His words trembled unsteadily and his throat was beginning to tighten. It was getting harder to push the words out. "I know nothing I say will make this okay, but you need to know that I'll never forgive myself for what I've done."

Chloe laughed again, but this time it was filled with disgust. "And I hope you never do. I can't even believe you had the balls to show up here."

"Half of it was for Max," he admitted with a small shrug. "The other half was because I needed to see…I needed to see the damage I've done." It wasn't a lie. He had needed to see what had happened to her. He had heard things around school, but he still had needed to see for himself.

Nothing could have prepared him for that moment when he first saw her in the wheelchair.

"Well, did you get a good look?" There was a newfound anger in her eyes and her voice was rising. "Are you happy now that you've seen all the pain you've caused?"

"Look, I-"

"You don't even fucking know half of it," she cut him off sharply. "You think you do, but you don't. I'm stuck in this bed _dying_ because of you!"

Nathan inhaled sharply. He tried to think of a response, but what could he say? There just weren't words. Saying I'm sorry again was probably the last thing she wanted to hear.

That didn't stop him from trying.

"I…Look, I…This wasn't what…I didn't mean to," he said in a cracked voice.

"You didn't mean to." Chloe's voice was sharp as a whip. "You didn't mean to drive me into a ditch and then take off?"

"I shouldn't have done that. I should've come forward. Believe me, I know that. I'm a fucking pussy for doing the opposite. Is that what you wanna hear?"

"I don't want to hear anything from you." She shook her head and finally looked away. "I just want you to get the fuck out of my sight."

And he could do that, because there wasn't anything left to say. He being there was only making it worse. The only thing he could now was leave her alone.

It was when his hand was on the doorknob that a question popped into his mind, one he really needed to know the answer to. "How'd you figure out it was me?"

"I recognized your car, dumbass," she said, venom dripping from her tone. "Besides…I saw you for a split second before you hit me. I never forgot your face, and I never will."

"Are you gonna tell Max?"

"No." Her answer took him by surprise and he turned slightly to look at her over his shoulder. "I should. And believe me, I want to. But I'm not gonna hurt Max like that. I see how you two are together, and even though you took everything away from me, I refuse to take anything away from her."

He nodded slowly. "Thanks, I guess."

"Don't think for one second that it's for you, Prescott," she snapped. "I'm doing it for Max. She's my best friend, and I'm going to spare her the pain of knowing the kind of guy her boyfriend really is…even though maybe she should know."

"Maybe," Nathan agreed quietly. When she didn't say anything more, he took that as his cue to get out, and he left. As soon as he closed her door, he leaned back against it and closed his eyes.

In a way, that went better than he expected.

"Are you okay?"

Nathan opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Max. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She didn't look convinced. "Did something happen in there?"

"Let's just say that your best friend sure as fuck ripped me a new one."

"Well, that's just Chloe being Chloe," Max let out a small laugh. "Try not to take it too personally."

Nathan attempted to smirk. "I don't think she would have cut into me like that if I wasn't a Prescott." _If I wasn't the guy who put her in a fucking wheelchair and destroyed her fucking life._

"Well…maybe," Max shrugged. "Um, just let me give Chloe this, and I'll be right out."

He didn't bother to ask about the needle in her hand. "I'll meet you in the car."

"Sure."

This time, _she_ was the one who initiated the kiss, and she had absolutely no idea why. She didn't _want_ to kiss him…well, not entirely. She just…forgot for a second that he wasn't actually her boyfriend and this wasn't the real world. How she could have possibly forgotten something huge like that, she didn't know. She had just gotten used to playing the role of his girlfriend, she guessed.

It wasn't even that much of a kiss. She had never kissed a guy before so she had no idea what she was doing. And it only lasted, like, five seconds...which was definitely five seconds too long.

"Wow," he said once she pulled away, "that's the first time _you_ kissed _me_ in days."

"It's been a weird couple of days," she mumbled, heart pounding and face reddening.

"Yeah." He playfully pinched Max's cheek, laughing when she made a noise of protest and swatted his hand away, and started to walk away. "Try not to be too long," he said to her over his shoulder before he left the house.

Max stared after him for a moment, a little bit shocked that she had actually just kissed Nathan. She shook the thought off. She had to worry about Chloe right now.

"There you are," Chloe said breathlessly when Max entered the room. "What took you so long?"

"Uh, sorry," Max replied, mentally scolding herself for getting caught up talking to Nathan, "I was just…"

"Making out with your boyfriend?"

Max winced. "We weren't making out, Chloe."

"Whatever," Chloe sighed, flinching pain. "Give me the blue pill."

Max furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm sorry. I'm nosy, but not precise."

"Go ahead and plug it right in," Chloe explained. "It's so easy. And painless."

"Um, okay, but get ready to yell for your folks if I screw up." Max tried to keep her fingers from shaking as she plugged it in. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally kill her best friend.

"Oh, trust me, I will," Chloe said, feeling relieved when Max plugged it in without incident. "Of course, my pain just keeps getting worse…but you caught me on a good day." She smiled gently at Max. "Max, I'm so grateful that I'm even able to hang out with you. See, I'm getting mushy," she said with a shaky laugh. "I'm already high."

"You are so adorable," Max said, almost sadly. "Do you want anything else?"

"Um, stop me if I'm being too emo, but can you grab me one of those photo albums over there? I'd like to check out some old pictures of us when we were kids."

"Please. My diary is like emo ground zero. Plus, Max Caulfield does not pass up a photo op with Chloe Price. Ever." Max grabbed the photo album off the dresser next to Chloe's bed, pulled up a chair, and flipped open the photo album. "I hope this is okay."

"Perfect." Chloe looked down at the pictures, face immediately lighting up. "Oh my god, look how little we are there! We look like toys!"

"I remember that day by the lighthouse."

"My dad was pissed at us. He actually tried to give us a time-out!"

"And you laughed at him," Max chuckled. "My dad would have banished me." She turned the page.

"Whoa, awesome picture," Chloe said fondly. "We look so badass in our pirate gear."

"We should have taken over Arcadia Bay when we had the chance."

Chloe glanced at Max. "There's still time for you…"

 _I'm not so sure that there is,_ Max thought to herself.

"Max, are you really happy with Nathan?"

Max paused and looked at Chloe. "Where did that come from?"

"I'm just wondering," Chloe answered in a soft voice.

"…Yes, I'm happy with him." It was the best answer she could give Chloe. Saying otherwise would only start a long conversation that she didn't really want to have right now.

Chloe nodded, seeming to accept the answer. "Okay."

Max didn't question why Chloe would suddenly ask that, and turned the page.

 _Oh my god…this photo…_

"Oh man, there we are making pancakes. I love that shot of us," Chloe smiled. "It's hard to believe that my dad took that picture only five years ago."

"Literally seems like only yesterday."

"I wish it was."

"Me too."

 _This photo…Maybe I could…_

Chloe noticed the look on Max's face, and tears began to well up in her eyes. "Listen, Max, my respiratory system is failing and…and it's only getting worse. I've heard the doctors talking about it when they thought I was zonked out. So I know I'm just putting off the inevitable, while my parents suffer along…and I will, too. This isn't how I want things to end."

"What?" Max gasped, not believing what she was hearing. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that being with you again has been so special. I just wanted to feel like when we were kids running around Arcadia Bay…and everything was possible. And you made me feel that way today. I want this time with you to be my last memory…Do you understand?"

"Yes," Max said, feeling the wetness on her cheeks, "I do."

"All you have to do is crank up the IV to eleven…" Chloe's look was pleading, begging Max to do this one thing for her. It was the only thing that she wanted.

Max wanted to say no. She wanted to refuse Chloe's request, because how the hell could she bring herself to do this? It would be murder. And she's seen Chloe die once already (twice if you count the time the girl got her foot stuck in the train tracks), and she didn't want to see it happen again.

But at the same time, how _could_ she refuse? If this is what Chloe wants, who was she to refuse that? In this world, Chloe was dying slowly and painfully. Max couldn't let her die that way…not when Chloe could die peacefully in her sleep, happy and content and thinking about the time she got to spend with her best friend after what felt like so many years.

 _I have to do this for Chloe. I have to. I can't be selfish right now._

"I'll just drift off to sleep…dreaming of us here together…forever," Chloe said, the pleading look becoming more desperate.

It was final. Max stood up and cranked up the IV to the number Chloe said. She didn't even want to know how Chloe knew what number would kill her.

"Thank you so much." Chloe gave Max a very relieved smile, eyes starting to feel heavy. "I'm so proud of you for following your dreams. Don't forget about me."

"Never," Max choked out.

"I love you, Max. See you around."

Max looked down at the picture of the two of them. "Sooner than you think."

And just like that, Chloe was gone.

It was a long moment before Max could do anything. When she finally shook herself out of it, she turned her attention to the picture and focused. "I'm sorry, William," she whispered. She picked up the photo and did the same thing she did before that got her in this alternate world in the first place.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Watching William walk out that door was harder than Max thought. She thought she was ready, because this is what had to happen in order to get everything back to normal, but she wasn't. It took almost everything inside of her to stop him once again from leaving.

 _This is how it's supposed to be, Max,_ she reminded herself. _It_ _fucking sucks, but…this is what's right._

And when she was suddenly in Chloe's room (she didn't have any idea how she got there, but she wasn't going to question it right now), she knew that she had made the right choice.

She stared at the board of evidence she and Chloe must have put together while she was in the other universe, making sure that she was actually back in the real world, and then turned around to find Chloe sitting at her desk, blue hair and tattoos and _not_ in a wheelchair.

"Chloe...you're alive. Yes!" Max ran over to her best friend and wrapped her arms around the girl.

Chloe jumped in surprise. "Whoa! Down, Max! You get one kiss and now you're all over me." She laughed despite herself.

"I'm just…I'm just—I'm so glad you're here!" Max could barely contain her excitement, but she didn't care how weird Chloe must think she is right now. She had her best friend back, alive and normal, and everything was how it should be now, horrible or not. Nathan's the same crazy prick, and he's no longer her boyfriend. And-

 _Oh. Shit. SHIT._

"Chloe, where was I last night?" Max asked, afraid of the answer.

Chloe raised her eyebrows. "Max, are you high? Or are you suffering from memory loss all of a sudden?"

"Seriously, Chloe, where was I?"

"You were here with me, remember? We were up all night playing 'CSI: Arcadia Bay,' trying to put all this info together."

 _Oh no…_

"So I didn't go to see Nathan last night?" Max's voice was practically filled with dread. This was _so_ not good.

"No, you didn't," Chloe frowned. "Were you messing with time while I was sleeping?"

Max shook her head. "No, I…I'm just tired, I guess."

"Well, wake up, sunshine. We have work to do." Chloe turned back around in her seat and began to type away at the computer.

Max's shoulder's sagged as she took a seat on Chloe's bed. _Time to face the music, Max._ She took out her cell phone and turned on the screen.

 **9 Missed Calls**

 **5 Unread Messages**

She winced and opened the messages.

 **you coming or not Caulfield? i'm not waiting all fucking night 4 u**

 **what the fuck Caulfield! you either hurry the fuck up or u can forget the whole fucking thing**

 **dont bother coming cuz u lost ur chance. i can handle this on my own. fuck u**

 **Max im super fucking high right now and i need u to come over cuz i cant fucking get ur lame ugly ass out of my head and its driving me fucking insane. what the fuck have u done to me Caulfield**

 **FUCK ignore that last text. seriously. anways stay the fuck away from me. K? next time you try and come near me you wont like what happens**

Max read the messages about ten times, feeling a mixture between amused, angry, disappointed, and frustrated. She really just lost her chance to help him, didn't she?

No. Screw what he said. She was going to find him and talk to him. There was no way she was going to let herself lose this chance, consequences be damned. Even if he wouldn't budge, she wasn't going to let that stop her. He was going to get her help whether he liked it or not. The idiot couldn't do this on his own.

"Chloe," she said, voice suddenly strong, "I'm sorry, but I really need you to take me back to school. There's something I have to do."

Chloe turned around and sighed. "Max, seriously? We really have to-"She paused when she saw the look on Max's face. "Whoa…what's that look for?"

Max stood up and grabbed Chloe's keys off the floor and threw them to her. "Let's just say that this is the look of a girl who is done putting up with a certain someone's bullshit."


End file.
